Back to Work Week: 6 DIY Upgrades for Your Home Office or Dorm

With school nearly back in session and work ramping up for fall, this week’s roundup of do-it-yourself projects are designed to add some smarts to your home office or dormicile. From a cross-stitch letter sorter to a chest of drawers transformed into a desk, there’s no better time to spruce up your workspace.

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1. Art on a Budget

Download these hi-res vintage camera images for free and blow them up large format at a print shop ($3.29 at Staples). Get the file from this post at Design Editor. Prints by Catherine Davis.

Add some style to your desk with a little cross-stitch fun! Photo by Emi from Small Good Things.

2. Cross-Stitch Letter Sorter

Add a little craft to your correspondence with some unexpected cross-stitch on a generic letter sorter. Emi of Small Good Things has the how-to!

Put your name (or at least first initial) in lights

3. DIY Marquee Letters

All you’ll need is a large cardboard letter (available at craft stores) and some string lights to pull off this DIY marquee. Ashley of Sugar & Cloth offers up the idea at Grey Likes Nesting.

The only tool you need to build this hairpin leg desk is a screwdriver. Photo: Casey Baudoin

4. Custom Corner Office

Does your home office consist of a 4-foot nook? Follow Casey Baudoin’s example and build a custom-fit desk with midcentury mod hairpin legs. The steel legs can be found here, and you can cut down any piece of scrap wood to suit.

Magnets, glue, tins, repeat. Photo: Cheryl/A Pretty Cool Life.

5. Magnetic Tins

Save precious desk space by hanging pens and other office supplies on the file cabinet or mini-fridge. We like to use vintage tins, but emptied bean or coffee cans do the trick, too. Just strip off the label, wash out, and add magnets. A quick and easy idea from A Pretty Cool Life.

From drawer to desk: just add hinges. Photo: Lucky Me Studios.

6. Chest of Drawers/Desk Hack

This chest of drawers is actually from a Penn State University dormitory, circa 1942 (and stamped on the back to prove it), but what a cool idea for a hack. Simply remove the drawer, add hinges to the drawer front, and poof! Also note the decoupaged drawer knob — some bored student’s handiwork, no doubt. See more at Lucky Me Studios.